


Opening to the Change

by whatthedubbs



Series: And Thus Touching You Would I Silently Sleep and be Carried Eternally [2]
Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Kissing, M/M, Teddy apologizes too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-15
Updated: 2013-10-15
Packaged: 2017-12-29 12:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatthedubbs/pseuds/whatthedubbs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy and Billy have been faking their relationship for six months now.  </p><p>It's not awful.  Most of the time.</p><p>Until it's not enough, but too much all at the same time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opening to the Change

“Fine,” Billy whispered in Teddy’s ear.  “But only because Jamie’s here.”

Quick as a flash, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Teddy’s.  He felt the other boy tense momentarily as his words registered, his lips going taught for a second before the shifter gained control of himself (something Billy wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to understand), and let his tongue gently brush over the curve of Billy’s lower lip.

It was slow, but not in a way that was sweet or hot or even remotely _sexy_.  No.  Somehow, it was _apologetic._ Billy got the distinct impression that Teddy was still trying to say sorry, even though they’d been at this for almost six months now.  Not constantly, because the charade was only for the benefit of his school friends and their parents, but still a long time.  Long enough that Teddy had already apologized hundreds of times. 

 _If this were fanfiction, we’d have been engaged by now,_ Billy caught himself thinking as Teddy slowly pulled back, the shifter’s eyes concerned and searching for a moment, as they always were after moments like this.  As if he were bracing himself for the inevitable _I can’t do this anymore._

Well, Billy wasn’t going to give it to him today.  Not with Jamie grinning at them in a too-small santa hat, and holding up his cameraphone triumphantly.

“Aaaaand another one for the blackmail folder!” 

Billy rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue at his best friend.  “Shut up, dorkface!”

Teddy chuckled, and the sound traveled down Billy’s spine in a deliciously warm jolt, bringing back stupid memories of that night at the karaoke bar, before things had gone to shit.  Those few brief hours when his two favorite people had been in the same room and having a great time with him, and Teddy had still been just _Teddy_.

“Come on Billy, give him a break.  It’s not his fault he’s still to chicken to make a move on Sam,” the shifter stage-whispered in his ear.

Billy smirked (because even after all the baggage they’d loaded on their relationship, Teddy still had the same sense of humor).  “True.”

This time, it was Jamie’s turn to turn red and roll his eyes.  “Yeah, yeah, rub it in.  Not like it didn’t take you two a full year of _constant_ eye-fuckery before you got your shit together or anything.”

Teddy’s laugh was just the tiniest bit strained this time as he wrapped a _thickstrongwarm_ arm around Billy’s stomach and pulled him close again.  “I have it on good authority that your dance with Sam is going on six years long now, so how is that an excuse?”

“Um, dude, she’s like, super popular.  And smart. And funny.  And so far out of my league that I need the freaking Hubble Space Telescope to see my chances of getting her to notice me!”

Billy snorted, leaning back into Teddy’s chest as if he belonged there.  “I love how you still think that despite the fact that she’s constantly leaving you wall posts on facebook and asking me when you’re going to be back in town so she can hang out with you.  Maybe she…gosh, I don’t know, _wants to kiss your face_!”

Jamie huffed and tossed his hat at them.  “Shut up.”

Billy caught it and threw it back. “Lame.”

“Fuck you.”

 

-X-

 

“I’m sorry about earlier.”

Billy looked up at Teddy through the hair that his headpiece always seemed to force in front of his eyes no matter how carefully he tried to comb it back first.  They’d had to leave Jamie’s place in a hurry to help Eli and Nate deal with a jewel robbery Astoria.  Now the perpetrators were safely in the hands of the police, and the four of them were back in the ruins of the Avengers Mansion to change back into their street clothes and bandage their (admittedly very minor) wounds.

“When?”  Billy couldn’t remember anything during the fight that Teddy would be apologizing for. 

“Earlier.  At Jamie’s.”

“Oh.”  Billy sighed and reached up to tug his headpiece off.  “That.”

“Yeah.”  Teddy was reaching towards his face with something, and Billy hissed when the shifter swiped the alcohol pad over the cut he hadn’t even noticed on his brow.  “It just…I couldn’t see another way out.”

“It’s fine.”  Billy winced as he shrugged out of his cape and reached for the bag that contained his clothes.  He wasn’t even going to try changing here when the thermometer on the bank across the street was reading twenty-five degrees.  “It’s a good cover, anyway.”

“Sometimes I wish it was more than that,” Teddy muttered as Billy was pulling his sweater over his head.

Billy stopped and turned to look at Teddy.  The other boy flushed bright red, even over his green skin (which Billy resolutely refused to find adorable).  “What?”

“Nothing.”

_No._

“Teddy-“

“Forget it.”

“But-“

“I said forget it!”

Teddy turned his back, tugging on his own sweater a little too hard, the seams on the sleeves giving in a few places.

“No.”

Billy stood, reaching out a tentative hand to grasp Teddy’s shoulder before he could think about it too much and chicken out.  “Do you really want that?”

Teddy sagged under his hand, but didn’t turn to face him.  “Yeah.”

“You know –“

“Yeah.  I fucked it up.  I know.”

Billy sighed and shook his head.  “No, I wasn’t going to say that.  Would you stop and _listen_ for a second?”

“Sorry.”

Billy groaned.  “And stop with the ‘sorry’s.’”

“So- okay.”

Billy took a deep breath.  “What I was _going_ to say was: Are you done leading me on?  Are you going to run away again and say it was all some sort of mistake?”  He didn’t _mean_ for it to sound bitter, but the way Teddy flinched as he said those words made him think he might have, so he threw caution to the winds and kept going.

“I’ve wanted this to be more since we started whatever the hell this thing we’ve been is.”

“Why didn’t you _make_ it more then?”

“Because the last time I tried to take the lead, you totally shot me down and let me think you’d been leading me on for eight months.”

Silence for a moment, then:

“Am I allowed to say I’m sorry about that?”

“You already did, so no.”

“So what do I have to do before we can fucking move past that?”  Teddy sounded frustrated and maybe just a little bit desperate, in that way that so few people seemed to be able to pick up on.

Billy sighed and leaned forward until his head thumped into Teddy’s back. 

“I don’t know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Second part. Still for CrisArt.


End file.
